Thanksgiving weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Reinforcements arrived on Wednesday in the form of Grandma and Grandpa Bear. Woo hoo! They cubsat for us and Steve and I went to the hockey game (with a detour to Dave and Buster's on the way). The Stars lost in a shootout but we still had fun. Thursday morning, Grandma Bear, Steve and I started all the cooking and by mid-afternoon we enjoyed our Thanksgiving "feast". The cubs weren't that impressed, but all the adults at the table looked pretty stuffed. I want to thank my parents for traveling here and keeping the cubs for us so we could enjoy a little adult time. The Christmas tree went up on Saturday night while the cubs were in bed and the lights were lit when the cubs came out on Sunday morning. We got an "oooh" out of Emily and Zach couldn't wait to dive right into the tree and yank on all the lights. So far it is still in one piece though. It does look a little sad since we only have lights on it. Little curious hands and travertine floors aren't a good mix with glass ornaments so we are holding off on the ornaments until next year. I will post pictures soon!

Never say never

Update to my post from November 8th, "No turning back". HA! Well, we turned back. The whole toddler bed experience did not go so well. I will say that Emily did really well going to bed at night. However, she was waking up way too early in the morning. The first morning around 5 am, little fingers were tapping me on the shoulder. Not really a big deal if I could bring her up into bed with me for snugglies, but she would have none of that. In her little mind it was time to play. The next morning, I woke up around 5 am with this strange feeling that I was being watched. I opened my eyes, rolled over, and there she was sitting in her daddy's place, looking down at me. Who knows how long she'd been there. No snugglies then either, just a little trampoline play. The next morning around the same miserable time, instead of coming into our room, she went into Zach's room and woke him up. This made for a very unpleasant day. She also refused (REFUSED!!!!!) to take her naps in her toddler bed. I don't see what the big problem was...it is her same bed with the front rail removed. Twice she finally fell asleep on her floor, the remaining days she went sans nap, which is not good for mommy. Nap time is the only precious time I have to get things done. So after six miserable days I convinced Steve to put the front rail back up and now everyone is happy again. She is sleeping until 7 am, taking her naps again with no fuss, and the earth has been realigned on its axis. Thank goodness!

F-35 Family Fall Festival

Last Saturday was the F-35 Family Fall Festival for Steve's work. We weren't able to stay long because it was infringing on the cubs very important and necessary nap time. Steve and I ate lunch (the cubs were too busy to sit down and eat) and then the cubs spent the remainder of the time playing on the slide before we headed home for naps.

Dancing to the music of the live band.:

Taking time out for refreshments.:

Slide time.:

Our little man with his injured paw....on the mend, but it sure doesn't slow him down any.:

Slide racing.:

FYI...That is a slide loving smile right there.:

Weeeeeee!:

The two cutest cubs ever!!!

Pool progress

The pool installation is in full swing. They broke ground bright and early Tuesday morning and worked until the very last light of the day. Then they were back at 7:30am on Wednesday morning. Lots of progress has been made in two days. If all goes well, the gunite should be in tomorrow, but we're keeping an eye on the weather...rain predicted...never fails!

The before picture:


Breaking ground:

Little supervising cubs:

The end result of day 1:

By the end of day 2:

The deep end:

Our view from the patio. That's a LOT of rebar.

Watch out for wild bear cubs

Last Saturday, Steve and I took the cubs to the zoo. Reminder: our previous zoo visit was not a pretty one. Emily had the death grip on Steve the entire time and Zach didn't pay any attention to any of the animals. This visit went much better. Zach was a little wild, I even had to use his harness (which I affectionately call his leash), because he was constantly on the go. One look away and he was gone, so that made it a little difficult, but otherwise the latest zoo trip was a success!

No turning back

Steve removed the front rail on Emily's crib on Friday while I was at the Dentist. To my surprise she has done really well. She actually goes right to sleep at night (and stays in bed all night) but it takes a little more convincing at nap time. Steve was off all weekend, so I'm a little worried about how she'll do when it is just me tomorrow when nap time rolls around.

Another trip to urgent care....if we're not sick, we're injured.

On Tuesday, November 3rd, we had our first trip to Urgent Care for something other than illness. Zach burned his hand on one of the outdoor uplights so now we have to add Physical Therapy and wound care visits to our busy schedule. Zach and I both had a very big cry over the incident.

The story:
Steve and I had decided to take the cubs out for a car ride and because of the time change, the outdoor lights were on since now it gets dark so early. When we returned I got Zach out of the car, set him down, and I thought he was following Emily into the house. He almost made it, but at the last second, he veered to the left and made a bee line for the light. I yelled, but it was too late, and he put both hands paws on the light bulb. We immediately put them under water and coated them with fresh aloe, but after 45 minutes of crying, Steve took him to Urgent Care. Now we are dealing with dressing changes and trying to prevent infection, but it could have been worse. His right paw is worse than his left, so it is all bandaged up, but the therapist told us that it actually looks pretty good. It doesn't seem to hurt him at all now. He only cries when the therapist is changing his bandage and dressing (even though he is ok when Steve or I do it). We are hoping that they will take the bandage wrap off for good at his appointment tomorrow.

Halloween goodies

Emily and Zach received a package of Halloween goodies from Grandma Shirley and Grandpa John. Thank you so much! The cubs are really enjoying their new toys!

Opening his Halloween card:

Cowboys football!

There's something else in here:

What a SWEET batmobile:

Emily checking things out:

Emily and her new phone:

Check out her cool new shades:

...and her new purse!:

Cards from Seattle on display...from Great-Grandma Betty and Tom, and Grandma Shirley and Grandpa John.

A look back....WAY back

Yikes, my last post was 10/22, the day before Grandma and Grandpa Bear were supposed to visit. Unfortunately Grandma Bear came down with a virus and they couldn't come, so now we won't get to see them until Thanksgiving.

We have been crazy busy here at Cub Central. On October 21st, after several days of unusually steady rain, we discovered a water leak in Emily's room. Actually, it pretty much announced itself. I walked into her room after dinner and found a "water balloon" making it's way down her wall. I had to take this picture because Steve wasn't home and I wanted him to see it before I "popped" it and drained the water into a bowl.



This lovely intrusion resulted in a week's worth of contractors coming in and removing the drywall, testing/treating for mold (mold test was negative but they treated anyway as a preventative measure), pulling up the carpet tack and base boards, repairing the roof leak, replacing everything, and repainting. I will say that our builder was very quick to get this repaired. We even had contractors here on Saturday. Thank goodness it was all covered by our warranty.

On Monday (10/26), the cubs received their seasonal flu shot and on Wednesday the cubs came down with a vicious case of the sniffles/coughs. UGH!!! Unbelievable. Fortunately they felt better by Halloween to go trick-or-treating for a little while.

I attended a baby shower on Sunday (11/01) for our good friends, Matt and Beth Ann. They are expecting a baby girl in December, and I was glad I got to see them again. It always seems that every time we try to get together someone (aka A CUB) gets sick. I just can't seem to get these cubs healthy. I'm sure it's because they are in preschool for the first time, but it just drags on and on.

We received approval for the pool from the HOA and had our preconstruction meeting on Friday, so we should be breaking ground as soon as permits are received from the City. VERY exciting.

Zach is still eating really well. Last night we took the cubs to CiCis pizza (original plan was to go to Chuck-E-Cheese, but it was packed) and there he ate the cheese topping from four slices of pizza. Emily, however, adamantly refused everything except black olives. It seems like they have swapped roles. Zach is doing well and Emily has become my picky eater. She turns her head and says "NO" very clearly. Can't believe this is the same girl that used to eat EVERYTHING except watermelon. Where did she go?

I will be sharing pictures of other recent happenings here at Cub Central...it's easier (and faster) to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Happy Birthday to Great-Grandma Betty

Yesterday was Great-Grandma Betty's birthday and we hope she had a wonderful day!! We don't get to see her very often but we are sending lots of Cub Love and well wishes!

We had to go to the archives to find this picture of Zach playing with Great-Grandma Betty. Zach still loves a good game of peek-a-boo!

Happy Halloween!

We took the cubs trick-or-treating last night for Halloween and they did amazingly well. We were impressed! They looked so cute as they walked up to our neighbors' doors, knocked softly, and then tried to barge inside when the doors were opened. Good thing they are cute!

"Hurry up, Mom! We're ready to go!"

Great decorations along our route:

Our first stop:

Elmo checking out his loot:

Our cowardly cute lion:

With some new friends we met along the way:

Elmo had to stop and flirt with a little princess. Sister Lion is probably rolling her eyes.